drink it in

Last night, bag of nail polish in one hand and cocktail fixins in the other, I got together with my girls Alli & Carla. We chatted, ate snacks, made drinks and painted our nails watched Carla paint our nails. Much fun was had by all, and I whipped up a new adult beverage that I might just start drinking all summer long. 

I'm calling it the Pineapple Joy, because that's how you'll feel when you drink it!

You'll need:

• Pineapple Juice (Trader Joes has it by the carton for CHEAP)
• Fresh Mint Leaves
• Prosecco (any sparkling white wine will do, but I prefer the Italian variety.)

Combine a splash of pineapple juice in a cup, add 3-5 torn mint leaves and muddle. Fill the glass half of the way up with pineapple juice, add ice and top with prosecco! This obviously isn't a very precise recipe, so if you want more or less booze feel free! We also tried versions with simple syrup and with raspberries muddled in as well - they were both delicious!

alli finds a big stick / our beverages in action (photo by alli)

finished nails (photo by carla) / nail polish concentration (photo by alli)

seek & ye shall find

Show of hands, how many of you read food blogs?  EVERYONE DOES, RIGHT? What's better than opening up your web browser of choice and navigating that baby straight on over to a well designed & well photographed utopia of tasty delights!?! 

For the first time I got to participate in the designing of one such blog! Tasteseeker's Kitchen has gone live, and just look at that beaut. Working with Annie & co. on coming up with a charming but simple logo was a blast, and I love seeing it in place now in the midst of Kate's fantastic web design work.

Here are some sketches I provided at the onset. They were a little more image driven, and eventually we simplified the logo down to a more type based design.

Final sketches, and color palette building (a guilty pleasure). 

The final logo! Hello, baby.

food baby

I bought a little travel watercolor set last month. Nothing fancy, just those little hardened cakes of pigment (not what the pros use by any measure), but it's been perfect for me to get back into this challenging and frustrating media. Watercolor, in my opinion, it the least forgiving kind of paint you could ever use. Make a mistake? Huh, too bad, there's no way to cover that business up. 

Yet I still find it intensely satisfying! I love laying down color and going back over it with a good pen once the paint dries. Bill and I have started doing series of food paintings, which ware way fun (Bill's already got some for sale, and all the money he makes from them will go to his wedding! BUY SOME). Mine are all tiny little doodles based on what I'm eating at the time. Soon I'll make some more!

If you're wondering, the orange and white thing in the wrapper is one of Trader Joe's mango cream bars , and the yellow blob next to that is pub cheese to dip your pumpernickel pretzels in!

select few

A selection of images from a personal project, arranged for this blog with love.

unlisted #6

Another set of items occupying my mind grapes - from the edible to the legible! Previous versions: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

this simple cake recipe | Oh, Martha. What would I do without you? This layer cake recipe was in the most recent issue of Martha Stewart Living and of course I first laid eyes on it when I was stuck midway between Minneapolis and Washington DC on an airplane with no food in sight. I knew I had to make it as soon as possible, and luckily I got a chance to this weekend for Ben & Bill's birthday bbq! It was intensely easy and intensely good.

the burning house | I love a good very specific theme blog. The Burning House is exactly that: carefully laid out, reader submitted photos of what they would take with them if their house was on fire. Obviously it's mostly fantasy based, but these photos and lists still say a lot about their submitters. I especially like ones like elle townsend - they're almost portrait-like in nature without any actual images of the person's face.

janelle monáe's Q.U.E.E.N. | THIS IS MY JAM. Ms. Monáe is such a dreamy rock star and man oh man this video is filled with babes. I wouldn't mind it if every item of clothing in it could be in my closet.

prettify your power cords | I'm not always into DIYs, but this one from DesignLoveFest is simple enough and the end result is stunning. Plus... I've been looking for a reason to buy some washi tape, since all the cool kids have some already.

hallucinations by oliver sacks | My dad is an amazing genius and got me this book for Christmas, along with A Clash of Kings. It took me months and months to finish the latter but I'm finally done and just got started on Oliver Sacks' latest book last night. So far it's living up to the hype!

this gorgeous basket | Gorgeous colors and fair trade to boot? What is there not to love!

publish

The time is finally here! It Will Be Known To Us (volume one) is finished and available for purchase. One snowy afternoon a few weeks ago Allison and I bundled up and, umbrellas and witchy props in hand, set out for her backyard. We gathered up a couple sticks and logs and then Alli got to work. These photos are all hers... and MY GOSH, are they not gorgeous? Girl knows what she's doing.

So here, enjoy some of the photos from the shoot... and then go out and check out the zine! Lisa and I will love you forever!!!